Boom for iOS Adds Surround Sound

HIGHLIGHTS

• Boom’s effects promise to bring surround sound to any pair of headphones.

• The app is a full-fledged music player for iPhone and iPad.

• It’s free for five days, after which it costs Rs. 190.

The makers of the hugely successful Boom for Mac recently released an iOS counterpart, but there are some differences between the two. While the Mac app offers an equaliser and a tool to bump up the volume for everything you do on OS X, Boom for iOS is a full-fledged music player instead. The key feature is its effects, which promise to offer a surround sound effect on any headphones. Because of iOS limitations, this will only apply to music being played in the app, and not any other apps you're using.

When you play a song in Boom, a large Effects button appears on screen. Tapping that takes you to the effects menu, where you can select from a number of equaliser presets, and increase or decrease the intensity of Boom's 3D Surround effect. The app's settings menu has a few basic options such as crossfade (when switching tracks, one song fades out while the other fades in), visualiser, and a sleep timer that lets you turn off music after a certain amount of time. Another option lets you shake the device to switch to the next song or play/ pause the current song.

So, does Boom really work? Yes, but with some caveats. For one thing, the difference in the playback on your iOS device is much more noticeable when you're using a cheap headset. Boom's effects widen the sound quite a bit, giving it a more atmospheric feel. Try playing a couple of live concert recordings to hear the difference. We tried it with Oasis' Familiar to Millions live album and an Iron Maiden live concert.

Boom has another limitation - it can't apply effects on DRM-protected files such as those from Apple Music or Spotify. This is not an oversight by the developers, but a limitation imposed by the streaming services. If they provide Boom with access to their streams, the app will be able to apply its effects on their songs. Until then, you'll just have to be restricted to DRM-free music such as songs purchased from iTunes.